Wichita eagle., 1887-06-03

SOME UGLY HABITS.
FREAKY AND lD.OSYNcRATIc WAYS
OF MEN AND WOMEN.

Sticking Out the Tongue-Pulling at the
COLLABORATING Tattoo-Twiddline
the Thumbs-Biting the Nails and
Lips-In Results.
"Just look at that girl.'
eyes; it is Miss Blank. What about herr
| Don't you see her tongueT'
"Oh, yes. Isn't it perfectly dreadful
They say she always sticks it out like thai
when she's thinking aSout anything"
The young woman in question was prone
nading the east side of State street early one
morning, attired in q bewitching costume
and pensive expression, while the tip Of hel
little tongue protruded between two lips OF
the description known to novelists as coral.
| Yes" said one of her feminine acquaint-
ances, 'she always does that when thoughtful
| or worried. Its one Of those terrible habits
which, when once contracted, stick closer
| than a million brothers. Miss Blank began
1t when child, and no one ever took the
trouble to break her of it Now. poor
girl, it mortifes her terribly to be told
about it, though, OF course, she is
| anxious to cure herself. But then nearly
every one has some curious little habit which
he would be very glad to break if he could
some trick more or less unpleasant caused in
the first place probably by nervousness. We
all know the man who tugs at his mustache
and the one who is perretually pulling up his
collar. Then there is the girl who is always
rubbing one eye as if in search of a stray
eyelash, and the man who can't be quite
happy without some more or less fragile ar
tlcle to twist and bend and turn about in his
fingers. Anything and everything from your
finest lace handkerchief to your new and
extremely delicate paper cutter is sacrificed
to the demon of nervousness which possesses
him, and yet you can't find it in your heart
to rob him of his plaything. Heis quite happy
and at his ease SO long as he is allowed to
twirl and twist as much as he wants to. but
bereft OF the temporary object of his affection
he would be abjectly miserable, and you know
1t. Many man can talk fuently and well
while winding something-anything-
his finger, who, without it, would be con-
strained, awkward, silent
THE INCEssAST TATTOO
"One Of the most annoying forms Of this
disease IS the incessant tattoo which some
people keep up on their knees or the table or
whatever happens to be most convenient as a
keyboard. l have noticed that musicians
usually indulge this habit, and it is a very
trying one. though l don't know that it is
worse than 'twiddling your thumb You
don't know what that iss Why, clasping your
hands with the fingers interlaced and then
moving the thun,s slowly, very slowly, round
each other. Nearly all old English people
are addicted to this habit, and look upon it as
a refuge from ennui during times Of enforced
idleness, such as that blind mans holiday
when it is too dark to work or read, and yet
not dark enough. according to English no
tons, to light the gas. At this time of day
an old English woman will sit and 'twiddle
her thumbs SO many times from right to left
and then SO many times from left to right,
until one begins to think she has dis
The habit gains such hold upon men that
they are unable to sit unoccupied for a
moment without Immediately beginning to
'twiddle.'
"Of course, every one knows people who
bite their nails, and nearly all of US can re-
member some girl who has destroyed what
was intended for pretty mouth by sense
less fashion of biting, or rather gnawing, at
her lip. This is one of the most difficult
habits to break, and at the same time one of
the commonest. If you want to see how
widespread it is, just 60 over to one of the
State street dry goods establishments about
10 o'clock on any fine morning. Monday
morning is best, because Monday is the
favorite shopping day. Didn't you know
thata Oh, yes, it's fact. Any floor walker
will tell you that more business is done on
Monday morning than any other time during
the week-that is, in the big shops. OF course,
in the cheap ones Saturday is the great day
Why should Monday be populars Oh, sup
pose it is the reaction after Sundays enforced
idleness. On Sunday one can't shop, and
when one wakes on Monday morning it is so
delightful to feel that all restrictions are re-
moved, and that there is nothing to prevent
one from shopping all day if inclined to.
TIE UGLY RESULTS
Il always go myself on Monday, and, as a
rule meet nearly all my friends, and half Of
them, l notice, invariably bite their lips when
considering anything seriously When q
woman asks: Do you think this will
washg or DO you really believe this silk
will not cut! or confdentially informs the
counter that she is afraid sixteen yards won't
be enough she nearly always bites her lip,
and a very ugly and injurious fashion it is.
If the lower lip is the one attacked, the pretty
curve is in time destroyed and the fullness
fat:ened out, while if the upper lip is i'll
treated the results are almost worse. for it
becomes heightened in very unbecoming
manner. Then some women bite the inside
of their lips, at the side just at the 'gusset OF
the mouth, and this ends in chronic pout
am convinced that if the girls who indulge
in this trick realized fully its i'll effects they
would make more serious efforts to overcome
it. 1t IS comparatively easy to do this when
one Is young, and it is quite possible to break
children of such habits.
There are lots of other curious little ways
peculiar TO individuals l know q man who,
when embarrassed, always taps the side of his
nose with his little finger. and girl who is so
given TO pushing back her hair behind her
left ear that she has worn bald spot there. "
Chicago News.
President LincoIn's Assassination.
Some vIOpular errors about IiuCOi,l's assas-